TROUBLE IN
PARADISE
Uncovering the Dark Secrets of Britain’s Most Remote Island
KATHY MARKS
For my parents
Contents
1 A surreal little universe in the middle of nowhere
2 Mutiny, murder and myth-making
3 Opening a right can of worms
6 The propaganda campaign starts
11 ‘You can’t blame men for being men’
Part 2—Viewing Pitcairn from a distance
13 Politics, poison and power plays
14 Britain’s ‘ineffective long-range benevolence’
15 ‘I just did my job and minded my own business’
16 Interdependence + silence = collusion
19 Reaping a sad legacy since Bounty times
Historical figures
Edward Christian (Fletcher’s brother)
Edward Young (mutineer)
Fletcher Christian (mutineer)
Harry Christian (hanged in 1898 for murder of wife and baby)
John Adams (mutineer and community leader)
Maimiti (Fletcher Christian’s Tahitian ‘wife’)
Matthew Quintal (mutineer)
Peter Heywood (mutineer court-martialled then pardoned)
William Bligh (captain of Bounty)
William McCoy (mutineer)
Media
Claire Harvey (The Australian; The Times)
Ewart Barnsley (Television New Zealand)
Kathy Marks (The Independent; New Zealand Herald)
Neil Tweedie (The Daily Telegraph; Press Association)
Sue Ingram (Radio New Zealand)
Zane Willis (TVNZ)
Officials and diplomats
Baroness Patricia Scotland (Former Overseas Territories Minister)
George Fergusson (Governor at time of writing)
Grant Pritchard (former Governor’s Representative)
Harry Maude (British colonial official in 1940s)
Jenny Lock (former Governor’s Representative)
Karen Wolstenholme (former Deputy Governor)
Leon Salt (former Commissioner)
Leslie